Generally, if you know what's going on in Asia as far as technology goes, you have a good grasp on what will be going on in the West in the somewhat near future (with the exception of certain crazes that will probably never catch on anywhere else). The current craze in the mobile market is something that I find simultaneously appealing and repulsive: incoming ringtones. It will probably end up with a better name than that, but here's the idea: you get to choose the ringtone that the person you are calling will hear when you call them (somewhere my junior high grammar teacher's Spidey senses are tingling). This would be great fun, but it could also be really annoying. I'm sure there would be certain levels of control that the receiver would maintain (you could probably opt-in and out of allowing the caller to control your ringtone), but even then there's potential for disaster. I also wonder how effective this would be, since the caller would have to assume a certain set of ringtones existed on the receiver's phone. Anyway, start preparing yourself to hear “I Want You to Want Me” when your girlfriend calls, and “Stairway to Heaven” when your college roommate calls. Read more at PMN News Service.

USER COMMENTS 6 comment(s)

I think you misunderstood…(9:32am EST Tue Aug 26 2003)What they're saying is you can control the sound the caller hears when they call you. That way, instead of hearing that same annoying rrrrrrrrriiiiiiinnnnnnnnng playing over and over on the line while they wait for you to pick up, you can let them hear your favorite song, or such. - by zoocat

This could be a good thing.(12:17pm EST Tue Aug 26 2003)After the news media reports the first person to be fired for the embarrassing/tastless tone a so called friend choose to use, maybe people will start turning off those annoying cell phones in meeting and public places. - by LaughALot

completely inaccurate(12:50pm EST Tue Aug 26 2003)i agree with zoocat. a quick read of the article shows Thomas read it completely wrong. Better rewrite this article or take it down! - by blunder

backwards(3:31pm EST Tue Aug 26 2003)zoocat is right, my cousins in korea have already told me this a while ago. it's the receiver who decides which song the caller will hear in place of the same 'ring ring ring'. - by old news…..

What old news?(8:08am EST Fri Aug 29 2003)There's a NEW device that lets the Caller decides the tone of the Receiver's phone. - by Doug

HOW?(11:56am EST Sat Sep 03 2005)I WANT TO NO HOW CAN I DI IT.OR IS IT ONLY IN ASIA?- by I LIKEY

HOW?(11:56am EST Sat Sep 03 2005)I WANT TO NO HOW CAN I DI IT.OR IS IT ONLY IN ASIA?- by I LIKEY